Rogue Brewing has it’s own hop farm, fruit trees, malt and rye and now they are taking the vertical integration one step further with the Rolling Thunder Barrel Works that they call with typical Rogue-ishness “a tree to table cooperage at the Rogue Ales and Spirits World Headquarters in Newport, Oregon.”
They are going to age their “Oregon made beer and spirits, crafted with Oregon grown ingredients, in barrels we crafted ourselves from Oregon White Oak.”
They will harvest wood from the Oregon Coast Range and then the “white oak pieces will be seasoned in terroir of the Willamette Valley and in the ocean air of Newport.”
And they are going to do it old-world style which means hand-crafted. Which means it will take time but I love the idea and I hope that more breweries with the means and supply see this as an example of taking the art of brewing into the art of cooperage too.